Salem Academy and College Celebrates Opening of Sutton Initiative for Design Education

Furniture World Magazine

Furniture Industry News Update -
5/4/2012

On Sunday, April 28, Salem Academy and College held a reception celebrating the opening of the Sutton Initiative for Design Education (SIDE) named in honor of Salem Academy alumna Martha Allene Stevens Sutton A’71. The celebration included the unveiling of the new Chair Library. The reception was held in the Robert E. Elberson Fine Arts Center.

SIDE includes two major donations and a program comprised of three components: collaboration, scholarship and research. The donations by the Suttons included 900 books on furniture, architecture, design, history and interiors to Salem’s design research library. The Sutton book collection is one of the most comprehensive of its kind outside the Bienenstock collection in High Point. The book collection is available for students at Salem’s Gramley library.

The Suttons also donated nearly 40 chairs, each considered “icons” by furniture historians, to create a Chair Library. No other college or university in the country has a collection of chairs like this, which students will use for study and inspiration. Each chair is distinctive in its design, use of materials and technology, innovation or creativity. The chairs chosen for the SIDE Chair Library have stood the test of time or seem poised to do so.

The Chair Library includes a brand new chair recently acquired and donated by the Suttons, which was used in the recent smash hit movie The Hunger Games, filmed here in North Carolina. The chair was made by the Phillips Collection, a North Carolina company based in High Point.

SIDE and the Chair Library were made possible through the generous support of Charles Sutton, Emily and Will Parsley, Marshall Sutton, David Sutton, Mrs. Allene B. Stevens, Mr. Paul Broyhill and the Broyhill Family Foundation and Mr. David B. Rea.
About Salem Academy and College

Founded in 1772, Salem Academy and College is the nation’s oldest continually operating institution for women. Salem Academy is a private college-preparatory boarding and day school that offers girls with high aspirations a rigorous education in a homelike atmosphere. Salem Academy is located at 500 Salem Avenue in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and shares a 64-acre campus with Salem College. For more information, visitwww.SalemAcademy.com.

Salem College offers 35 undergraduate majors for women, as well as coeducational graduate studies and programs for men and women ages 23 and over via the Fleer Center for Adult Education. Salem College is located at 601 S. Church St., Winston-Salem, North Carolina. For more information about Salem College visit www.salem.edu .